Gerd Suhren

Gerd Suhren
File:Gerd Suhren.jpg Gerd Suhren
Allegiance	Nazi Germany
Service/branch	Kriegsmarine
Years of service	1933 – 1945
Rank	Korvettenkapitän (Ing.)
Unit	U-21, U-31, U-37, U-2511
Battles/wars	World War II Battle of the Atlantic (1939–1945)
Awards	Iron Cross 2nd and 1st Class U-boat War Badge Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross
Relations	Reinhard Suhren

Gerd Suhren (May 16, 1914 in Tafaigata, Samoa – May 6, 1991) was a German U-boat engineer (Ing.) in World War II and older brother of Fregattenkapitän and Knight's Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords recipient Reinhard Suhren.

Biography

Gerd Suhren joined the Kriegsmarine in April 1933. Since April 1937 he served in the U-boat force and got a solid pre-war training. In September 1939 he was LI on U-37 and in the next year he rode 8 patrols on this boat. He was the first engineering officer (Leitender Ingenieur) to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.

Gerd Suhren left U-37 in October 1940 and became a training officer in the 25th flotilla. Later he served in several staff positions.

In September 1944 he became once more the Leitender Ingenieur on the new commissioned type XXI U-boat under the command of Adalbert Schnee. He took part in the patrol, that U-2511 rode in May 1945. After the war Gerd Suhren served for more than 2 years in mine sweeping duty. His parents and sister committed suicide in 1945, after failure to escape from the Sudetenland.

Awards

• Iron Cross
  • 2nd Class (8 November 1939)
  • 1st Class (28 February 1940)
• U-boat War Badge 1939 (8 November 1939)
• Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 21 October 1940 as Oberleutnant (Ing.) and chief engineer on U-37

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Brustal-Naval, Fritz and Suhren, Teddy (1999). Nasses Eichenlaub: als Kommandant und F.d.U. im U-Boot-Krieg. Frankfurt/M; Berlin:Ullstein. ISBN 3-548-23537-9.
• Busch, Rainer & Röll, Hans-Joachim (2003). Der U-Boot-Krieg 1939-1945 - Die Ritterkreuzträger der U-Boot-Waffe von September 1939 bis Mai 1945 (in German). Hamburg, Berlin, Bonn Germany: Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn. ISBN 3-8132-0515-0.
• Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (2000). Die Träger des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939-1945. Friedburg, Germany: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3-7909-0284-5.
• Kurowski, Franz. Knight's Cross Holders of the U-Boat Service. Schiffer Publishing Ltd, 1995. ISBN 0-88740-748-X.
• Range, Clemens (1974). Die Ritterkreuzträger der Kriegsmarine. Stuttgart, Germany: Motorbuch Verlag. ISBN 3-87943-355-0.
• Scherzer, Veit (2007). Die Ritterkreuzträger Die Inhaber des Ritterkreuzes des Eisernen Kreuzes 1939 von Heer, Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, Waffen-SS, Volkssturm sowie mit Deutschland verbündeter Streitkräfte nach den Unterlagen des Bundesarchives (in German). Jena, Germany: Scherzers Miltaer-Verlag. ISBN 978-3-938845-17-2.